


a matter of time

by nayanroo



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Background Relationships, Engagement, F/M, but he loves her so much y'all, but only if you're looking for it, shiro is a little bit of a disaster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2019-01-05 15:48:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12192906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nayanroo/pseuds/nayanroo
Summary: The war's over, and the universe is starting to rebuild. As Allura leads the charge in forming new alliances, looking to the future, Shiro considers the kind of future he wants for them. But being a paladin means that your plans tend to go awry and your timing is never the greatest...





	a matter of time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Littlespacestars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Littlespacestars/gifts).



> Happy birthday, dear! Hope you like it.

The castle was greeted by an escort of three Garrison ships in bright cream and orange as soon as Allura brought them out of the wormhole. “ _Garrison escort to Altean castle ship,_ ” the lead pilot said over the comm. “ _Match our speed and vector. We’ll take you down safely._ ”

As soon as the comm channel closed, Allura made a face. “One would think I’ve never done this before,” she muttered, even as a twitch of her fingers brought the ship’s course in line with the one sent by the escort. “I know not to land on top of buildings.”

At his station, Shiro hid a smile. “They’re just following protocol.” They were doing really well, he thought; the lead pilot was the appropriate distance off their bow, and the two flanking escorts were spaced well enough, visible to either side of the sweeping bridge canopy. The first official visit that Allura had made as Princess of Altea, Defender of the Universe, Shiro had spent almost a full day briefing the Garrison by hypercomm so that they had protocol down. It was good to know it had all stuck.

He turned to look back and caught Allura making a face at him. Her expression softened when he made a face back, relaxing into something gentler, a smile he only ever saw aimed at him, a smile that made Shiro remember the other task he’d come to complete while he was here on Earth.

His mother still lived in the mountains, north of where the Galaxy Garrison training center was located. It was quiet in the Springs for a retired pilot, and though Aiko Shirogane had been one of the most illustrious pilots (and then one of the most infamous flight instructors) of her time, she had been happy to retire and let her son take over glory-hunting for the family. She hadn’t anticipated the aliens, but then again, neither had he.

Black rumbled a purr as she landed, lowering her head both to let Shiro out and to accept a careful pat from his mother. Somehow the psychic mechanical cats had been easier to handle than the aliens, and Black had found it amusing to meet his mother, and always echoed a little of Shiro’s joy at being reunited with her back at him anytime they went to see her. If he was interpreting the stream of images and affectionate feelings were to be believed, his mother had made quite a mental impression.

“Hi, Mom,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. She squeezed him tightly, strong despite her lithe frame.

“It’s so wonderful to see you again.” Akio stepped back, looking him over as she always did—checking for new additions or subtractions, she’d said the first few times. “I was surprised you said you were coming today. And no Allura?”

“No, she’s in negotiations with the Planetary Council and can’t get away. She told me to say hello.”

“Well, when you see her tonight, tell her the same. I like that girl, Takashi.”

He wanted to blurt out his request right there, but held it in. The lions and their paladins always drew a crowd, and he had to make sure everyone was a safe distance away before Black put up her particle barrier while she waited for him, and also… well, it was a _really_ personal request, and he didn’t want Allura or anyone else finding out about it.

His mother’s house was tucked away in a quiet neighborhood, small but with a large yard she kept well tended. When he’d brought Allura to meet her, Akio had taken great pleasure in showing her around all the work she’d done. The yard had been a jungle when they’d moved the summer after he’d graduated from Garrison student to pilot, and he’d felt guilty about not being able to stay behind and help. But his father had been alive to help his mother with a lot of it, and Allura had been in raptures over the different kinds of Terran plants and flowers. Akio had been so pleased that the next time they’d visited she’d had a pot ready with Windmills, a flower that Allura had said looked a lot like juniberries.

“So,” his mother said as she made them tea, “What’s on your mind?”

“Nothing, I just want to visit—“

“I’m smarter than that.” She raised a dark eyebrow at him as she waited by the stove. “Is it about _him_?”

Shiro looked away. “No. But… he did come to visit, then?”

“A few times.” Now his mother looked away, and… he’d never seen her look _tired_ except in the few holos he’d seen of her, recordings from when she’d been pleading publicly with the Garrison and the Planetary Council to make an inquiry into the Kerberos mission. She’d lost her husband and her son in quick succession, and it had worn on her. Now Shiro was back, but…

“I saw him six months ago, in fact. But he looks… older. It’s strange.”

“Something in how they… what they did to him, it makes him age faster.” Shiro wondered what he looked like—it’d be like looking into his own future—but it had been made quite plain that ties had to be cut. He didn’t reach out, and Shiro didn’t try to look for him. “Is he all right?”

“As much as someone in his position can be. He took a name for himself—he’s asked me not to say—“

“That’s fine.” Shiro took the cup of tea when she handed it over, and they sat and drank it on the same furniture he remembered from his childhood, watching his mother’s three dogs laying in the backyard. “He isn’t why I came here.”

“So you _didn’t_ just come to visit your old mother, I _knew_ it!”

“ _Mom_. I did want to see you, I just… there’s something I want to ask you for.” At the look of concern that flashed over her face he hurriedly added, “It’s nothing bad! But… do you still have the ring Dad gave you? When he proposed? It’s fine if you don’t want to give it up, I can get another, but—Mom?”

Akio had gotten up and run into her room, coming back with a small box. The black velvet on it was worn, and the white silk inside had lost some of its shine, but the ring inside it sparkled just as brilliantly as he remembered. “Your father spent almost all the money he had on this,” she said, looking at it fondly. “Our first big trip together… it was to Australia, so he wanted the opal, and he knew I liked sapphires, so...” She looked up at him, her eyes wide. “You’re going to ask Allura? Really?”

“Yes, really.”

Akio broke into a huge grin and pushed the box into his hands, clasping them tightly. “ _About damn time,_ ” she said. And then she burst into tears.

*

The next few months presented… well, if not _challenges_ , then at least _roadblocks_ or _delays_ or _detours_ from his original plan to propose as soon as possible. If he loved her so much, his mother had said, there was no point in waiting to ask. What would more time do? He already knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

But from Earth they’d gone to the Kuttij sector to meet with the leaders of a coalition of several systems, which had turned into the paladins having to step in and put a stop to an attempted coup, and from there they’d gone on to a scheduled meeting with Lotor and the Galran Remnant, and from _there, both_ the Alteans and the Galra had gone on an emergency mission to dissuade one of Zarkon’s former commanders from declaring himself the one true emperor and amassing an army of drones. _That_ had been a difficult battle despite having the Dragon’s aid, and after he’d made sure that Keith and Pidge had gotten into pods he turned and saw Allura was dialing up another one.

“For you,” she said, crossing her arms over her armored chest. “Change and get in.”

“Princess—“

“Don’t use titles with me. I had the castle scan you when you came in.” She paused, and looked a little embarrassed. “And Black told Red.”

“My own lion _tattled_ on me?”

“She was _worried_.” Allura tilted her chin up, but when he pulled her in close and kissed her, she yielded and swayed into his arms, her fingers cool on his skin. “And so am I. Get in the pod, my paladin.”

Shiro changed into the white healing suit, shoving the ring box (he always carried it with him, just in case the right moment stood up and announced itself) into one of his boots. The pods always made him a little unsettled, but Allura’s presence made him feel a little better. She checked the settings on the side, then grasped his hands and kissed him again before stepping back.

“I’ll see you in a few vargas, my love,” she said gently, and the dreams he had in the pod after that weren’t unsettling, vague echoes of memories that had been tampered with and diminished.

As it happened, he popped out the same time that Keith did, and as they dressed, Keith watched him take the ring box out and shove it into one of the pouches on his belt.

“You’re going to have to ask her eventually,” he said.

“I _know_ , but the time hasn’t ever been right.”

“We’re paladins. I don’t think our timing _ever_ being right is really in our wheelhouse.” Keith pulled his jacket on, a thoughtful look on his own face, leaving Shiro to pull the ring box out and open it, watching the way the colors in the opal caught the light. He could imagine how it would look on her finger, how happy she’d be… the one thing he _couldn’t_ seem to do was actually make what was in his imagination a reality.

“Maybe you’re right,” he said. Keith snorted.

“Of course I’m right. Just _ask_ her, Shiro.”

*

The first chance came a few days later. It was after dinner on the castle; they’d had a big party to welcome one of the planetary scientists, a Thuulian by the name of Au’roon who had a list of candidates for New Altea. They had come aboard with a few hundred refugees, and the castle felt more full than usual even though there were still whole levels that hadn’t been touched yet.

But it was quiet now, the beginning of the night cycle, and when Shiro arrived on the bridge to finish up analysis of some of the long-range scans they’d made of the nearest possible candidate, he only found Allura there, staring out into the stars as they cruised by. “Hey, you,” he said, and changed direction to come sit by her on the edge of her dais. She smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder.

“Hey, you. What are you doing here so late?”

“I could ask you the same question.” Shiro put an arm around her, feeling her fingers reach up to twine with the silver-white fingers on his metal hand. The comet ore arm was far more pressure-sensitive than the Galra one had ever been, something he appreciated a lot. “I thought you wanted to turn in early.”

“I did, but I came down here for a tick, and, well...” She sighed. “I got distracted by the stars.”

“I know that feeling.”

“I’ve never really had a chance to just… _look_ at them, really. From the moment I woke up to the end of the war, the stars were always only the backdrop to events on a grander scale. But now I have the time to see them, and...” Her hand tightened on his. “I can see why you wanted so badly to go to them now. They’re lovely.”

He shifted so he could look at her, see her looking up at the stars through the bridge’s canopy. Her eyes were soft, there was a small smile on her face… if now wasn’t the time, when _would_ be?

Shiro went for the pouch on his hip, undoing the clasp and digging around inside for the ring box—and pulling back as soon as the bridge doors opened and Allura twisted to see who it was, then rose when she saw it was Au’roon.

He listened to her talk, wondering if perhaps it could still happen when she was done, but the moment had passed and Shiro smoothed the flap of the pouch down with a sigh. No, not tonight.

*

He had really thought the second time would work out.

They’d narrowed down the candidate planets to three, and while Allura and the few elder Alteans—the ones only a few generations removed from the _old_ Altea—pondered the question of their new home, the castle had landed on a planet with a solid intergalactic trading port to refuel, take on supplies, and schmooze with the system government. It was on this planet, after a day spent at Allura’s side during her meetings, that he arranged for the dinner.

While he’d been listening to the kind of trade deals that the Alteans could expect should their new homeworld be the planet closest to Korrelea, Shiro had sent Lance and Keith on a reconnaissance mission to find this planet’s equivalent of a fancy restaurant. As much as she’d been born to the diplomatic meet-and-greets, Allura deserved some nights off, and at their lunch break he convinced her that it would be a good idea to go out and get some local flavor, and if it meant a nice dinner with just the two of them—no bickering or bullying paladins, no smarmy diplomats, no _work—_ then he wasn’t going to complain.

“Is this what one might call a date?”

Shiro had grinned at her over his cup of the local wine, their hands entwined as they took a break from all the conversations and questions. “Maybe.”

Allura had returned the grin, and his heart had jumped in his chest. “Then I look forward to it.”

The first part of the dinner had gone well; Shiro had asked the host nicely (and had thrown his weight as Black Paladin around a little) and they’d gotten a seat on the restaurant’s patio. It clung to the edge of a cliff with a breathtaking view of the glacier-carved valley below, and as the sun went down the tops of the mountains were lit with gold and orange, colors reflected in Allura’s hair and in the dress she’d worn. Even when the sun had gone down and the lights around the patio had come up, Allura seemed to glow, looking out over the valley while their dishes were cleared away before dessert, her fingers idly playing across his palm, back and forth.

 _Now_ , Shiro thought, feeling the ring box in his pocket, turning it over in his palm under the table. _This time, for sure_.

“This was a _much_ better idea than another stuffy dinner at someone’s palace,” Allura said, looking at him with her star-and-nebula eyes. “We… haven’t spent enough time together, just the two of us, and I… I’ve missed you, despite that you’re always right beside me. And I feel that I don’t tell you I love you nearly enough for all the patience you have with me.”

“You do. Tell me, that is.” His mouth was suddenly dry. “I hope you know that no matter what, Allura, I’ll always be at your side,” Shiro said, thumbing the box open under the table.

“Of course I do, Shiro. You’re… some days, you’re the only thing keeping me sane. Some days...” she sighed, bringing his palm up and nuzzling her cheek into it. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

 _You aren’t going to get a better shot at this._ Taking a deep breath, Shiro brought her hands back down so they were on the table. “Allura… there’s something I want to ask you.”

“What is it?”

Shiro took a deep breath, his fingers plucking the ring from the little satin crease… and nearly dropped it when Allura’s earrings chimed.

“-- _llura? Are you there?_ ”

She gave him an apologetic look and tapped her comm. “What is it, Pidge?”

“ _Well, uh, remember how you told us not to get into trouble?_ ”

“Yes...”

“ _Well, don’t be mad, but Keith and Lance were—_ “

The two in question suddenly chimed in, both of them talking over each other. At least, Shiro thought as he got his earpiece back in and turned his comm on again, they weren’t _fighting_ anymore, but they’d moved on to a sort of enabling relationship that was infinitely more difficult to manage, because it led to situations like Lance getting challenged to a duel by some local punk kid, and ending up fighting Keith who had stepped in on Lance’s behalf. Except the kid happened to be the son of a very rich and influential business magnate, who had _not_ been amused that his son had rightfully gotten his ass kicked, and who had had Lance and Keith thrown into the local jail.

“ _...and we’ve been_ trying _to get Shiro on the comm but he hasn’t been answering—“_

“Because I turned it _off_ ,” Shiro said, putting his head in his hands briefly. “We’ll be right there. In the meantime, Pidge, Hunk, could you tell Lance and Keith to maybe stop getting into fights?”

“ _No promises_ ,” Hunk said. The call cut out, and Shiro tucked the ring box back into his pocket, feeling annoyed… and disappointed. He’d really hoped…

“I’m sorry, Shiro,” Allura said as she picked up her skirts and they rushed out after settling the bill. “It was a lovely evening while it lasted, though.”

“Don’t apologize for the others, it’s not your fault they can’t control themselves.” Shiro put a hand on her back as she climbed beside him into Black’s speeder for the trip back to their lodging in the city. “We’ll pick up where we left off another day.”

*

The planet was painfully Earthlike. Shiro stood on the edge of a broad sea, the waves made gentle by the protective reef encircling the bay, and watched as Lance and Hunk swam out to investigate, while Keith hovered on the edge, his toes digging into the wet sand.

“I’ve never seen you indecisive.”

Keith tore his eyes away from the two ripples in the water, blue and yellow racing toward the barrier reef. “Water isn’t my thing.”

“I think we both know that’s not what’s stopping you.” Shiro put a hand on his shoulder. “Go for it.”

Keith gave him a significant look. “As long as you do too,” he said, and waded out.

The castle had been landed in an area of rolling, gentle foothills, and already a few buildings had begun to grow around the perimeter set around it. The call had been put out that anyone, Altean or otherwise, was welcome to settle here if they were willing to be subject to the laws off the new government—to Allura’s laws. And people had come. The Olkari delegation had come, to assist with construction; there were a few Balmerai, a few Puigians. But it was the Alteans who came, day after day, who swelled their numbers. Allura went out to greet each ship that came, joyful as her people found their new home.

She found him later, though, sitting on a hill overlooking it all. “I thought I’d find you here.”

He’d been playing with the ring box and hurriedly tucked it under his leg as she sat beside him. “How’d it go?”

“Wonderfully.” Allura tucked her arms around one of his. “Mostly Alteans, a few others. They spread the word before they left. The signal is being passed all around the universe."

“That’s great.” He looked over at her, at the crease in her brow and her parted lips. “I’m hearing a ‘but’."

“I always thought of this as the future, something… far away, a goal to get to eventually. But it’s happening now, and I fear I’m ill-equipped to face it.”

Allura pressed her face into his shoulder, and Shiro leaned in, resting his chin on top of her head. _No time like the present_ , he thought, and pulled the box out from under his leg again.

“I know you,” he said gently. “I know what you’re capable of. There isn’t… I don’t know of a road map for what you’re doing, for rebuilding an entire culture from the ground up, but I know that you’re smart, and you’re—Allura, you’ve got enough strength for ten people. But you’ve… you’ve done it alone for so long, and...” Damn it, _why_ wasn’t he good at this, why were his hands shaking? “You’ve got people around you who care about you, who want to help you, who love you. _I_ love you. And if you’ll have me...” He held up the ring where she could see it. The opal caught the light and flashed all the colors of the rainbow, the sapphires on either side glittering blue. “I’ll be by your side for all of it.”

It took her a moment for her eyes to focus on what he had, but when she did, he felt her gasp and go tense. Her hands let go of his arm, fingers brushing against his skin—wanting to touch the ring, unsure if she could believe it. “Shiro?”

“I mean, I never saw any rings on the fingers of your parents, when you showed me the holos, but. It’s an Earth thing, and it was my mother’s, and… I don’t, I don’t know a lot of things, _especially_ about running an interplanetary alliance, but I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I know that I love you. Will you—will you marry me?”

That last question came out in a whisper, not at all like he’d imagined it the hundred times he’d asked her in his head. Allura was staring at him now, her eyes wide. Her mouth worked a few times.

“Are you completely _mad_?” she asked.

“Only about you.”

She laughed suddenly, bright enough to outshine the sun. “You—you should know what you’ll be getting yourself into. Marrying royalty.”

“I know who I’m marrying.”

“Then—then _yes_ , Shiro, _yes_ , for the rest of our lives. Always yes.”

He didn’t really remember sliding the ring onto her finger, or how long he kissed her for, on a hill on the world that would be her— _their—_ home. Shiro knew that when he was done they were both breathless, that the sun was touching the ocean off in the distance, that a few more of the cracks that the Galra had put him had been filled in with gold.

“S’getting dark,” Shiro said. He couldn’t seem to let go of her hand. “We might want to think about getting back.”

“We’ve got time.” Allura grinned, their foreheads pressed together, their noses touching. “We’ve got all the time we need.”


End file.
